U.S. Poverty Weekly Update July 19, 2016
U.S. Poverty Campaigns
Weekly Update | July 19, 2016
“No American should be taxed into poverty!”
– RESULTS Salt Lake City volunteer and 2016 Bob Dickerson Grassroots Leadership Award winner Debbie Baskin in July 14 letter to the editor in the Deseret News
- Got Two Minutes? Congress on Recess – Set Up Meetings to Talk about Poverty (July Action)
- Got Ten Minutes? Use Political Convention Coverage for Media on Addressing Poverty
- Got Twenty Minutes? Take the RESULTS International Conference Survey
- Help Shape the 2016 Election with our Candidate Engagement Trainings
- Quick News
- Upcoming Events
Quick Action: Request a Face-to-Face Meeting to Talk about Poverty in America
Got Two Minutes? Congress on Recess – Set Up Meetings to Talk about Poverty (July Action)
Congress is now out on recess for the next seven weeks. While many of them will be attending the Republican and Democratic National Conventions this week and next, the remainder of the summer is your opportunity to push them to make ending poverty in America a top priority. It is also a great chance to follow up on requests you and your group perhaps made at the recent RESULTS International Conference. Now that the recess has begun, get your requests in now to meet with all of your members of Congress this summer.
TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to request face-to-face meetings with your representatives and senators for the congressional summer recess. The longer you wait, the less likely you’ll get a meeting. The July Action has tips to help you with wording your requests, as well as Laser Talks for the three main issues you would potentially discuss in your meetings: expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for childless workers, enacting policies that reduce the widening wealth gap , and protecting SNAP. Find the schedulers’ names and contact information on our Elected Officials page. If you cannot get a meeting, ask if your members of Congress will be holding town halls or public events during the recess.
Once you do get a meeting or plan to attend a town hall/event, please contact Meredith Dodson to get coaching on what to discuss ([email protected]). Also, after any face-to-face meeting, please fill out our Lobby Report Form to let us know how it went.
Got Ten Minutes? Use Political Convention Coverage for Media on Addressing Poverty
The next two weeks are going to be packed with politics, as the Republican and Democratic National Conventions take place. The media will be focused on these events, which provides you with an opportunity to educate lawmakers, candidates, and your community about poverty in America. We don’t know how much the issue of poverty will be discussed during each convention, but if you use your local media’s coverage as a “hook” for letters to the editor, you get the conversation started about how best to address poverty in the U.S. This is also a great chance to meet your media goals for the year while reminding leaders and readers that despite all the pomp and circumstance, elections are about solving problems. Finally, your media outreach will amplify our work with the Vote to End Hunger Campaign, which is designed to force candidates to state their plans to reducing hunger and poverty in the U.S. and around the world.
TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to send a letter to the editor about ending poverty, using the Republican and Democratic convention coverage as a media hook. Use our online LTE alerts to send a letter (or letters) today about expanding the EITC, protecting SNAP, or both. Be sure to personalize your letter(s) by mentioning a story about the conventions in your local paper. If you’d like help with your letters or want someone to look it over before you send it in, please contact Jos Linn at [email protected].
Got Twenty Minutes? Take the RESULTS International Conference Survey
RESULTS is still basking in the success of the 2016 RESULTS International Conference. It was one of our best ever with volunteers and speakers from around the world converging on DC to make the case for ending poverty.
One of the ways our Conference continues to be hit year after year is the feedback we get from you – our volunteers – about the Conference and how to make it better. We take your suggestions as to what worked and what didn’t to heart. Help us continue to improve the Conference by taking our 2016 Conference Survey today.
TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to take the 2016 RESULTS International Conference Survey. Go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2016RESULTSConf and give us your feedback on this year’s Conference on how to make the next one even better.
Help Shape the 2016 Election with our Candidate Engagement Trainings
This year’s election presents us with the chance to shape the agenda of the next President and Congress. Studies show that candidates who make promises on the campaign trail are more likely than not to keep those promises (or try to keep them) once they are elected. Talking to candidates on the campaign trail at town halls and public events gives you the opportunity to secure those promises when it comes to addressing poverty in America.
RESULTS wants to help you make the most of these opportunities by offering “Candidate Engagement” trainings over the next few weeks. These trainings will provide you the tools to use at candidate events by showing you how to find events, how to formulate a question, how to increase the chances of getting your question asked, and how to follow up. These training webinars will be held on:
- Wednesday, July 27 at 9:00 pm ET
- Monday, August 2 at 12:00 pm ET
- Tuesday, August 16 at 9:00 pm ET
To participate, login online at http://fuze.me/33195710, or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 33195710#.
Join one of these training and learn how you can become an effective election-year advocate and make this election about something that matters.
Quick News
Know Anyone Attending the Democratic Convention? Invite Them to Witnesses to Hunger Exhibit! Next week Witnesses to Hunger is hosting a national exhibit of pictures taken by members of Witnesses (two of whom, Tianna Gaines-Turner and Angela Sutton, are also part of the RESULTS Experts on Poverty cohort) to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. The exhibit is an opportunity for people with lived experiences of hunger and poverty to connect with the public and policymakers about their experiences. Our main goal is to educate the public, with a focus on delegates, about the realities so many families face in Philadelphia and throughout the country. Members of Witnesses will be available to meet with people coming to the exhibit and provide them with tours. The exhibit is June 25, 27, and 28 at the African American Museum – 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. Urge contacts to RSVP via Eventbrite and feel free to share the Facebook invite.
Invite People You Know to Southern RESULTS Outreach Meetings. We’re closing out the month of July with a flurry of exciting outreach events. U.S. Poverty Grassroots Organizer, Kristy Martino, and Global Grassroots Expansion Manager, Amanda Beals are teaming up down south and will be traveling through Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. The following events are on the schedule, but if you are in or around these areas, reach out – they may be driving through your town and need to stop for coffee and a great conversation!
- July 30: Baton Rouge, LA group building and leadership training followed by an informational happy hour.
- July 31: Birmingham, AL global group gathering and U.S. poverty outreach event from 6-8:30pm.
- August 2: Jackson, MS joint global and domestic group start from 6-8:30pm at Mississippi State University.
For more details on any of these events, please contact Kristy Martino at [email protected] directly.
Still Time to Join the Road to Rio Challenge! It's not too late to join the Road to Rio Friends and Family Campaign! We have three more weeks to raise $35,000 before August 5 to unlock the $15,000 incentive match. As you well know, everyday RESULTS volunteer advocates around the country use your voices to influence political decisions that will bring an end to poverty by meeting with your members of Congress, writing op-eds, and mobilizing your communities. Together, we can raise $50,000 that will go directly toward supporting volunteers. When you join the Road to Rio Challenge, you are inviting your friends and family to invest in ending poverty. We have resources to help you succeed in engaging your community and our development team is ready to help. Already participating in the Road to Rio and need a boost? Use this Facebook post template to ask your friends and family to support your campaign today: As a @RESULTSEdFund volunteer advocate, I use my voice to influence political decisions that will bring an end to poverty by meeting with my members of Congress, writing op-eds, and mobilizing my community. Join me in the fight to end poverty by supporting my Road to Rio Friends and Family Campaign: [Link to your Friendraising.donorpro.com page here!]
Save the Date for CFED Webinar Programs, Policies, Partnerships: Coming Together to Heal the Racial Wealth Divide. Many RESULTS activists appreciated the presentation by Dedrick Asante-Muhammed, Director, Racial Wealth Divide Project, Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) at the RESULTS International Conference last month (the slides and handout on New Orleans are on our Conference Resources page). On August 3, CFED invites attendees to learn more about racial economic inequality and actions we can take to turn on a webinar “Programs, Policies, Partnerships: Coming Together to Heal the Racial Wealth Divide” on Wednesday, August 3 from 3-4:30 pm EDT. During this webinar, you will hear from experts in program design & implementation, policy advocacy, and coalition building in and with communities and organizations of color. Come to learn and to share your own ideas & experiences. Leave with resources, ideas, and a renewed commitment to addressing racial wealth inequality through your own programs, advocacy, and partnerships. Register here.
Upcoming Events
Go to the RESULTS Events Calendar to see a full list of RESULTS events. Also, find a list of the RESULTS U.S. Poverty staff with contact information on the RESULTS website.
Congressional Recesses: July 18 – September 5 (House and Senate). Request face-to-face meetings. After your meeting, please tell us how it went by filling out the RESULTS Lobby Report Form: www.tinyurl.com/RESLRF.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, July 19 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join online at http://fuze.me/32256018 or by phone at: (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32256018#.
RESULTS Candidate Engagement Training, July 27 at 9:00 pm ET. To participate, login online at http://fuze.me/33195710, or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 33195710#.
RESULTS Introductory Call, July 29, at 1:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an upcoming Intro Call on the RESULTS website.
RESULTS Candidate Engagement Training, August 2 at 12:00 pm ET. To participate, login online at http://fuze.me/33195710, or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 33195710#.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, August 13 at 12:30 pm ET. Listen to previous webinars on our National Webinars page.
RESULTS Candidate Engagement Training, August 16 at 9:00 pm ET. To participate, login online at http://fuze.me/33195710, or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 33195710#.
You can download RESULTS’ most recent Annual Report at: https://results.org/about/annual_report/.